Virtually every day, people encounter surfaces that have been frequently touched. For example, they pass through doorways having handles when entering and leaving buildings (e.g., homes, office buildings, etc.) and rooms (e.g., bathrooms, cafeterias). Many devices (e.g., grocery carts, hand trucks, etc.) also have handles to facilitate their use. Such surfaces can be contaminated with bodily fluids, such as sweat and mucus. Moreover, illness (both mild and severe), such as the common cold, can be passed through hand touch. As a result, many people adjust their behavior due to actual and/or perceived unsanitary conditions associated with such frequently touched surfaces. However, in some instances, avoidance and/or behavior change is not feasible.
For example, in the restroom setting, persons with dry or clean hands (whether they have washed them or not) exiting from a restroom or the like find it bothersome to grab the door handle for opening the door only to find an unsanitary, or at least seemingly unsanitary (e.g., a wet handle) by reason of the last person exiting the room failing to either wash his hands or dry washed hands. Accordingly, both people who have washed their hands, as well as those who have not, often try to avoid touching any surface (e.g., a door handle). However, the person typically must touch the handle of the door to exit the restroom, and thus touching a surface of the restroom such as a door handle is nearly unavoidable. Large restrooms in some instances have separate entrance and exit doors that can be pushed open in the direction of travel (i.e., pushed or pulled away from the user in either specific direction of travel). With these types of doors a person can select a dry portion to push against for exit. Still, even in these instances, the dry portion may not be sanitary.
Many small restrooms, such as those commonly found in service stations, coffee shops, office buildings and the like, have a common entrance and exit door which is pushed inward for entrance and pulled inward via a handle for exit. Other restrooms have doors that open in an opposite fashion, that is, a user must push on a door portion and/or handle to exit. Moreover, there are restrooms that oftentimes have handles that require an individual to grasp and turn the handle to open or close the door, as well as to lock and unlock (e.g., via a latch and a spring-loaded push lock) the handle and door. Turning or moving the handle in such instances typically automatically unlocks the door. Door handle internal components to lock and/or unlock lockable doors are well known in the art (and thus they will not be described in detail herein).
In general, it can be stated that many persons exiting restrooms do not wash, or thoroughly wash, their hands. Still where there are handles, all or virtually all persons exiting the restroom touch the handle. Some people carry gloves, wipes or the like to use in such public restrooms. Some people take extra paper towel(s) to use to cover the door handle. Others carry sprays and liquids to apply to the door handle prior to usage or apply to their hands after use. These techniques are aimed at improving the sanitary or perceived sanitary condition of the handle. However, they are inefficient since they effectively “treat the symptom(s)” and do not solve the problem(s) and can be wasteful, expensive and create additional untidiness. Perhaps more significantly, such techniques are ad hoc, and as such, not everyone using the door benefits from such solutions.
Covering a handle (e.g., door handle) during use is an effective way to prevent a person from touching the handle. However, previous devices (e.g., UV mechanisms, foot levers, arm levers, etc.) and means to avoid handle contact and/or result in a sanitary handle touch have been characterized by numerous problems including: a) costly and/or complicated installations, dispensers, and refills; b) mechanical problems during door handle cover dispensing, such as jamming and breaking; c) high maintenance; d) fixed (as opposed to variable) and relatively low number or low capacity of sanitary experiences prior to re-fills being required; e.) may not be compliant with certain regulatory requirements; f) difficult to use; g) it is not apparent that solution offers a sanitary experience. Automating doors to eliminate touching is another option that is typically expensive to accomplish and maintain. Moreover, such doors require significant and sometimes unique spacing requirements and have tended to be characterized by slow operation.
In general, previous solutions have been cumbersome, costly, impractical, and/or inefficient. Thus, it would be desirable to provide a mechanism to maintain a sanitary and dry handle surface, for example, on the doors used for exiting rooms, including restrooms without the encountering the weaknesses of the aforementioned alternatives. It would further be desirable to provide an automated way to sanitize and otherwise maintain the cleanliness of handles for a user that solves the aforementioned problems in a practical, easy-to-install (e.g., the device can be affixed to a structure, such as a door, in any orientation), efficient and cost effective manner. Further, it would be desirable to provide a device and method to accomplish and/or maintain a sanitary handle in an automated fashion that is suitable for use with lockable doors, such as those described above.